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Thanks for the response! The scooter had been running recently, but never got quite to the point of operability. Then I bought an electric scooter, and put the project on hold. Then I ran into a problem with my property manager regarding how I was going to charge the scooter, and the bastard stole my charging device right out of my parking spot. Am seeking city mediation to have him return it to me. So the electric scooter is now collecting dust, and I want to have SOME form of transportation, so am now BACK to working on the ol' Zuma. Eghad.
At the ol' Zuma still aint working. About two weeks ago I went down to try to start it, and it wouldn't turn over. At all. I had put in a brand new cylinder, piston, piston rings, head, and gaskets, everything but a new crank case. Kicked the kick starter repeatedly, nothing.
So I checked the compression, which should be great on a newly rebuilt engine. 75psi was the max I was getting. WTF? So that was when I hooked my compressor up to the spark plug hole and turned it on and heard air escaping through my carb. A cracked reed would certainly allow that to happen, but so would a reed that was fine, given that they don't seat perfectly in an engine that isn't actually hot and running. I couldn't detect any leaks around my engine block, or around the spark plug hole— then again, I could only get it up to 75psi before all of the air the compressor generated was getting shot out the carb, so I turned it off at that point.
"You need four things for engine turnover: gasoline, a spark, air, and compression." I have plenty of fuel, I have a spark (I could double check that, but I had a spark a couple of months ago and have no reason to think that this has changed), there seems to be plenty of air (the intake certainly isn't being blocked anywhere) so that leaves compression. And when a compression tester tells you you are only getting 75psi, then that CONFIRMS the compression problem!
Oh, and I had been trying to use a new non-oem gasket on my exhaust, which wasn't sealing. I have removed it, and am back to using the original gasket there, which seems to be sealing just fine (for awhile there I was having leakage around the exhaust port of the cylinder, and then I ripped the head off a bolt trying to use a torque wrench to get it to seal in place, so then I had to get a bolt remover and screw out the busted bolt, get a new one, and bolt the exhaust back on, this time with the OLD gasket, and all that took quite awhile to accomplish, though I was hopeful it would all run once I fixed that— wrongo).
Also: I checked the reed valve about a month ago when I was working on all the other parts. There were some gaps, but the petals looked fine. I flipped them over to get closer to an total seal, and put them back in the engine with a new gasket to boot. I guess maybe I will take them out and have a second look, because I can't figure what else could be wrong.
I suppose I need to create a home-made leakdown tester of some kind. I am too broke to be going out to buy one.
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